U.S. Government Relations
What's New
See PMI present testimony to a U.S. Senate panel on how project management expertise has practical applications for disaster relief efforts.
With over 30 years in the Washington D.C. area, PMI is strongly committed to supporting project management within the U.S. government. The presence of both our Washington, D.C. Chapter, chartered in 1978, and our government relations office, opened in 2005, give us the local influence needed to advance the cause of government project management.
Our Mission
PMI U.S. Government Relations aims to raise the profile of project management as a profession in U.S. government departments and agencies, as well as with key congressional members and staff. Our goal is to increase acceptance of project management, and maturity of existing practices, by building key strategic relationships in both the executive and legislative branches.
Key Accomplishments
Since the inception of our Government Relations program, we have enjoyed several key accomplishments:
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U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs includes PMI certifications in the program parameters of the GI Bill.
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Office of Management and Budget's, Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Strategic Human Capital Plan includes project and program management workforce as an essential element of the acquisition workforce, and provides allocations for training and certification in project and program management.
- Report language included in S. 1064, the Enhanced Oversight of State and Local Economic Recovery Act, a bill to improve management of the Recovery Act through the use of project management best practices. It was passed by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on 22 July 2009.
- Report language was provided for Rep. Darrell Issa for inclusion in H.R. 2182, Enhanced Oversight of State and Local Economic Recovery Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on 27 July 2009.
- Introduction of a congressional resolution by Congressman Joe Sestak, recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the Project Management Institute.
- Working with the Office of Personnel Management’s General Counsel to ensure that federal agencies can pay for professional certifications, including the PMP exam. Federal agencies can pay for employees to take exam, but there must be budget resources to do so by law, 5 USC 5757, as authored by PL 107-107.
Recent Activity
PMI’s Vice President, Organization Markets, Craig Killough, presented testimony to a U.S. Senate panel on the United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) accountability, showing that project management expertise has practical applications for FEMA in providing disaster relief efforts.
Killough called for the federal government to broadly adopt project management standards across agencies, create a job classification for project and program managers, and make the current IT project and program management career paths government-wide across all agencies.
For more information, download the full testimony.
As part of the testimony, PMI submitted its research on Successful Program Management in the U.S. Federal Government, which studied best practices that achieve successful results within the U.S. government.
Our research concluded that a culture of project management is a crucial factor of success. Creating this culture improves leadership support, strong stakeholder communication, and the agility to drive positive results.
For more information, please download the PMI study.
